Lewis MacKenzie

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For the Virginia politician, see Lewis McKenzie.

Major-General Lewis MacKenzie, C.M., CMM, MSC (and bar), O.Ont , CD, (born April 30, 1940) is a retired Canadian general and writer. MacKenzie is most famous for establishing and commanding Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection Force or UNPROFOR in Yugoslavia in 1992.

MacKenzie was born in Truro, Nova Scotia. He joined The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada and was commissioned in 1960. He served his first peacekeeping tour in the Gaza Strip in 1963, returning for a second in 1964, and then served with the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus the next year. He was promoted to Major in 1971.

MacKenzie retired from Canadian Forces in 1993, after serving 35 years. He wrote a book, Peacekeeper: Road to Sarajevo as a personal account of his peacekeeping experiences in Sarajevo, and has commented regularly on military and security concerns.

In the 1997 federal election, MacKenzie was Progressive Conservative candidate for Parliament for the central Ontario riding of Parry Sound—Muskoka. Tory leader Jean Charest suggested that if their party won power, MacKenzie would become Deputy Prime Minister. The Tories improved their standing and regained official party status, though MacKenzie finished second to Liberal incumbent Andy Mitchell.

In 2005, following the appointment of Roméo Dallaire as a Liberal senator, MacKenzie wrote an editorial in the Globe and Mail entitled "Roméo, Roméo, wherefore art thou partisan?" arguing that Dallaire had compromised his previous stance by endorsing the Liberal Party's position on intervention in Sudan.^[1]

In 2006, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

Apparently, General MacKenzie has been a lifelong racing enthusiast. According to an article in the September 23, 2007 Victoria Times Colonist newspaper, the retired Canadian general is an enthusiastic, skilled, and competitive race car driver having won the 2007 Diamond Class Ontario championship for formula fords at the age of 67 .

[edit] Controversy

The 2000 book The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle by Carol Off criticizes MacKenzie's role in Bosnia, suggesting he was wilfully ignorant of the Bosnian political situation and was manipulated into being a vehicle of pro-Serb propaganda.

MacKenzie's views on the Srebrenica massacre are controversial. He has written:

Evidence given at The Hague war crimes tribunal casts serious doubt on the figure of "up to" 8,000 Bosnian Muslims massacred. That figure includes "up to" 5,000 who have been classified as missing. More than 2,000 bodies have been recovered in and around Srebrenica, and they include victims of the three years of intense fighting in the area. The math just doesn't support the scale of 8,000 killed.^[2]

He also disputes the categorization of the massacre as genocide by saying:

It's a distasteful point, but it has to be said that, if you're committing genocide, you don't let the women go since they are key to perpetuating the very group you are trying to eliminate. Many of the men and boys were executed and buried in mass graves.^[2]

The Cantonal Court of Sarajevo has opened an investigation against MacKenzie following testimonies that he raped Bosniak women in camp called Sonja, established by Serbs in Vogošća.^[3] On other side Newsday reporter Roy Gutman has discovered that MacKenzie has received 15,000 $ from Serb lobby group in USA for speeches in support of Serbian cause.^{[4] [5] [6]}

[edit] References